October 21, 2017

DDT: Week Thirty-nine – Lack of Character

Today ends National Character Week. A resolution from Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) included the statement that “The … integrity of our people … defines the soul of our Nation.” DDT began the week with a collection of lies and character assassinations in covering for the loss of four soldiers in the disastrous operation in Niger. Asked about the background for the deaths, DDT made the despicable statement that Barack Obama and “most” other presidents don’t both to call families of U.S. soldiers killed in the line of duty and then lied when he said he called every family. Since then, the White House frantically sent letters.

Criticized for telling the widow that her husband “must’ve known what he signed up for,” DDT lied about having made that statement despite witnesses. DDT then politicized the situation by exploiting Chief of Staff John Kelly’s having lost his son in combat in 2010, despite Kelly’s past refusal to talk about his son. Reporters asked about the missing $25,000 that he has promised some families but not others with little satisfaction.

Other questions were left unanswered such as why the mission was considered safe but failed so miserably and why the body of Sgt. La David Johnson was left behind for two days and discovered by Nigerian troops a mile away from the ambush. No one satisfactorily answered the question about DDT putting Chad on the travel ban, an act that may have caused the mission’s failure because well-trained Chad soldiers left Niger. Fighting between Chad’s armed forces and Boko Haram dates back to 2015. During the peak of the conflict Chad stationed 2,000 troops in Niger to counter the militant group. Another question about Niger is whether U.S. troops pursued ISIS members across the Mali border without approval.

The lack of integrity and “character” continued when Chief of Staff John Kelly lied in defense of DDT and smeared Rep. Frederica Wilson about her comments at the dedication of a new FBI building in Miramar (FL).

DDT’s leadership failures since his inauguration started with his authorization of a late January mission in Yemen where Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens died and refuses to take responsibility for his actions. This week, he defined his presidency by saying about other failures, “And I’m not going to blame myself.” DDT blames the GOP Congress, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Jeff Sessions, John McCain, Bob Corker, the press, and a host of others. That is DDT’s “character.”

Phil Mudd, former Deputy Director of the CIA’s CounterTerrorist Center and the FBI’s National Security Branch, talked about DDT’s claiming himself the victim, beginning with the day after his inauguration when DDT stood before stars for intelligence officers killed in the line of duty and talked about the size of his inauguration crowd. “Nine months later,” Mudd said, “this guy has the empathy of a cockroach.” San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovitch said, “This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others.”

When the Benghazi victims came home (left) and when the Niger victims arrived (right).

DDT is bragging about the capture of Raqqa from ISIS, but the militants have dispersed without being crushed just as the Taliban and al Qaeda were 16 years ago. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi left with his fighters to set up control elsewhere. ISIS affiliates remain active in Libya, Mali, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and elsewhere. Terrorists took control after 2001 because of bad leadership; the same thing can happen again.

DDT’s week has a number of other failures:

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that DDT can’t revoke a network’s license based on content, as he threatened.

DDT lacks proof that Iran is dealing with North Korea; he plans to “instruct” his intelligence agencies to go back to find the evidence that he wants.

The IRS plans to enforce the healthcare act by fining people without insurance, despite DDT’s false declaration that “Obamacare is dead.” The Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land, but DDT claimed,“‘Obamacare is finished. It’s dead. It’s gone. You shouldn’t even mention it. It’s gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore.” Perhaps he would like to call the current healthcare, suffering because he has badly sabotaged it, “Trumpcare.” Whatever healthcare is called, DDT’s “tweaks” is creating more uninsured: the percentage of uninsured U.S. adults has steadily grown since DDT’s inauguration to 12.3 percent, up 1.4 points since the end of 2016 and the highest recorded since the last quarter of 2014.

The CIA corrected DDT’s CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s lies about how the intelligence community determined that “Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.” A CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said the CIA concluded that Russia tried to influence the presidential election but they didn’t know whether it was successful. (Rumors suggest that Pompeo could become Secretary of State if Rex Tillerson were to quit.)

DDT’s nominee for drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), withdrew again after Washington Post and 60 Minutes reported about Marino’s championing a bill protecting pharmaceutical companies that flood the country with opioids. The law weakened DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies supplying doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics to the black market. Marino, who received big contributions from the drug industry, had withdrawn from the nomination on May 4 until he was re-offered the job on September 2.

Summer Zervos, who accused DDT of sexual harassment, has subpoenaed all documents from his presidential campaign about sexual harassment and assault allegations to show how DDT tried to discredit her and the other accusers. DDT’s lawyers maintain that a president cannot be sued.

Seventeen states are suing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos because the her refusal to punish predatory career programs “leaves students vulnerable to exploitation and fraud.” DeVos overturned rules, repeatedly upheld by courts despite legal challenges by the for-profit college industry, that cut off federal financial aid funding to career college programs providing only low salaries for students with heavy debt. She is also being sued for rolling back the regulation allowing students to apply for loan forgiveness if they were defrauded by for-profit colleges and for her tougher standard of evidence in campus sexual assault cases.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii has blocked DDT’s third travel ban because it failed to show nationality alone makes a person a greater security risk. Maryland is also blocking the ban to people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen; the restrictions against North Korea and Venezuela remain because they were not part of the lawsuit.

Seattle and Portland (OR) can continue suing DDT for removing federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities despite DDT’s attempt to dismiss their lawsuit DDT is defending an almost identical lawsuit in a federal court in California.

Anti-pipeline protesters charged with felonies may use the “necessity” defense of confronting climate change as justification in court. They can call scientists as witnesses and give evidence of harms as justification to protect people for their violations of the law.

DDT’s pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio rules out punishment, but he keeps his criminal record, according to U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton.

Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) attempt to stabilize the healthcare market after DDT’s sabotage has faced six different positions from DDT. Two weeks ago, DDT asked Alexander for the deal, and the White House participated in the compromise. Within a day, DDT was against, for, against, for, and finally against the bipartisan agreement that attempts to undo the damage from DDT on the healthcare system. The goal of the bill is to reduce the inflated rates for policy premiums planned after DDT withdrew any subsidy payments to insurance companies.

Two former presidents—Barack Obama and George W. Bush—gave speeches last week about bigotry, divisiveness, partisan conflicts, “conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.” Bush attacked “nationalism distorted into nativism” and said the nation has “forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America.” President Obama said, “You can’t govern people if you win by dividing them.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that references about politicians sowing anger and division did not apply to DDT because President Obama and W. didn’t use his name.

DDT broke into his incessant tweets against black athletes with one accusing his FBI of treason: “Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?” His explanation for his tweets, including today’s continuation of “Crooked Hillary,” is that “you have to keep people interested.”

A Gallup poll shows that economic confidence dropped from 16 in March—two months after DDT’s inauguration—to a minus one, a drop of 17 points.

DDT’s defense of his disrespect in the Niger situation and Kelly’s smearing of a black female member of Congress shiny media pennies to distract people from the rapid movement of a budget through Congress that destroys the social welfare net—including Medicaid and Medicare—while adding $1.5 trillion to the debt. Republicans brag about how this legislation leads to massive tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthiest people in the nation. Always look under distractions—such as black athletes or a black congresswoman—to find the GOP’s frightening actions.

Craziest thing of the week? Donald Trump, Jr. posted this fake Time cover of his father despite the magazine’s demand that DDT stop putting out fake Time covers of him.